Blackwork Tendrils: Laid Bare
by PestoMonkey
Summary: After Rannoch is reclaimed, a reunion is in order between two of the Normandy's most faithful crew. Blackwork Tendril that occurs at the same time as events in Ch 9 of the main story. M for xeno love.


**Blackwork Tendrils: Laid Bare**

**Song:_ Be Here Now_ by Ray LaMontagne**

* * *

Garrus stared blankly at the calibration screen. His mandibles fluttered in agitation.

"Tali will be alright. She has to be alright," he muttered to himself.

The last news he'd heard from Rannoch was that Shepard, in a not unsurprising heroic display, had commandeered the targeting laser and gone head to head with the reaper. But that's all he'd heard. Sure, he cared about what kind of trouble Shepard got into and whether she lived or died. She was the glue that kept this whole damn endeavor together. But everyone on the _Normandy_ seemed to be oblivious to how anyone else was faring down on the surface.

"Where is Tali?" he asked Joker through his comm the second he received orders to calibrate the _Normandy'_'s cannon to fire at the targeting laser's coordinates.

"How should I know?" Joker replied. "She's probably holed up with... Holy shit! Did you see what she just did?"

He had to restrain himself from stalking up to the cockpit and shaking the wisecracking pilot until he rattled. Instead he glanced at the nearby screen to see what was going on down on the planet's surface. Along with most of the crew who had personal terminals, he was watching the feed that streamed from Shepard's helmet, showing that the crazy woman had just narrowly escaped being vaporized by the reaper's beam.

She was running across a rocky landscape with the targeting laser in the foreground of her view. The camera tumbled end over end and he was looking at a craggy rock face for a second, then Shepard ducked out from cover and started to aim the heavy gun at the monolithic reaper destroyer.

The bright light of the targeting laser illuminated the main battery through the screen.

Garrus quickly completed his calibrations and the _Normandy_'s cannons let out a gut-wrenching whine and then a muffled boom as energy surged down their length and they began firing onto the surface.

He persevered through his mood, firing the cannon every time the target locked, making slight calibrations between each shot to make sure he was within mere microns of perfect accuracy, if not spot on. He was in his element now, and the elation he felt managed to subdue his earlier worry over how Tali was faring.

"Joker? Status?" he asked once the fire commands quit coming. He checked his terminal but all he could see from Shepard's helmet cam was her breastplate with the occasional surreal backdrop of Rannoch's rocky landscape.

"Keep your hat on, Garrus. We won. We're just waiting for Shepard to give us an update but this is good! Be happy!"

In the midst of their conversation, a strong feminine voice echoed through the battery, the glee in it unmistakable.

"Attention _Normandy_ crew. This is Commander Shepard. It is with _absolute_ joy that I want to report a successful mission on Rannoch. Thanks to all your help we've succeeded in assisting the Migrant Fleet in securing their homeworld. For the first time in _two hundred years_, they finally have a home again."

Cheering erupted from everywhere. She paused for a moment until the noise subsided. When she resumed speaking her voice broke almost imperceptibly, but Garrus heard it nonetheless.

"However, I have some sad news as well. One of our own, the geth soldier we knew as Legion, sacrificed himself to make sure this would be possible. So, please, I'd like to observe a moment of silence for our fallen comrade. Without his and his people's help, none of this would have been possible. He was a true hero and will be missed."

He breathed a small sigh of relief. It was over, and if there had been any other notable casualties, Shepard would have said so. He felt a little guilty even though he did feel sadness over the loss of Legion. The strange geth soldier had been an honorable ally to the very end.

The same woman's voice broke through his contemplation, speaking straight into his ear through his headset.

"Garrus, I hope you haven't worn a groove into the battery floor yet."

"Shepard," he said in response, ignoring her quip. "Nice work down there."

"It is nice to win some. I plan on celebrating later, but just wanted to let you know I'm bringing you a little present in honor of the success."

His stomach turned a flip at what he hoped she was implying.

His wish came true when the comm clicked again and he heard the most beautiful voice for the first time in months.

"Garrus? I would have contacted you sooner, but comm links are so unpredictable lately."

He closed his eyes in relief at finally hearing her voice.

"Tali... yes, I know. Are you joining us?"

"Yes! Shepard wants my assistance, and after today... I … and the entire Flotilla, really... owe it to her. But I admit I have ulterior motives."

He could hear the suggestive note in her voice, something he'd only started hearing in their recent conversations. It made him all the more eager to see her.

"I can't wait to see you."

"We're on our way now. See you soon?"

He nodded and felt like an idiot realizing she couldn't see his gesture.

The comm connection stayed open and he continued listening. He heard Cortez's voice asking, "You ever ride shotgun before?"

"Of course I have," Tali said, but her voice sounded nervous. She'd never been crazy about shuttle rides.

"Well strap in. It should be an easy ride, but you're precious cargo so we don't want you getting bruised, alright?"

"I've had my share of bruises."

"That may be, but I won't let it happen on my watch."

After another moment the comm cut out. He stood and resumed his pacing but stopped again, growing self conscious of the habit after what Shepard had said. He stopped to ponder his personal alcove in the corner of the battery. An overwhelming sense of anticipation came over him. She was coming back, after all this time of their only contact being via holo cams and muted and staticy QEC feeds late at night.

The last time they'd spoken face-to-face he hadn't even felt this way. That had been almost a year ago.

They'd parted after Shepard had surrendered the _Normandy_. They were merely comrades in arms who had both survived a mission that no one should have made it back from. When they parted, they wished each other good luck knowing they were both headed off to try to accomplish the impossible: to get their own people to believe in and prepare for the reaper threat. But over the intervening months they began to speak more frequently, comparing notes on their progress, lamenting the utter blindness of the people they were dealing with, the bureaucracy that bogged down their politics preventing anything truly useful from ever getting done.

Everyone else seemed to have an agenda. Tali's people only seemed to care about the geth threat, being so isolated from the reaper war with their nomadic tendencies. His people, thankfully, were no strangers to battle and were more receptive to his urge for action, but there was still so much pointless posturing among the turian hierarchy that it made him want to retch on a daily basis. It was only his conversations with her that lent some semblance of peace to his life.

He couldn't even really pinpoint the moment things shifted between them. Their conversations started becoming more familiar, more personal; less about their professional ordeals and more about their inner turmoils. They both had the shared experience of living in the shadows of overbearing fathers, of dealing with being thrown out into the universe and having to grow up very quickly, and of finding and losing love - or what they thought was love at least. Now he wasn't so sure he'd ever really felt love before, but he was sure now. And the woman he loved was only a few hours away.

As he glanced around his corner of the battery he realized it had to be the least romantic place in the galaxy right now. He eyed the cramped space critically. It was a soldier's bunk, no more, no less than he was used to, but it was no lovers' nest. He'd have to figure out how to fix that, and fast.

* * *

Tali could barely sit still for the entire trip off Rannoch to the _Normandy_. She was torn. She'd just been instrumental in regaining the quarians' homeworld and it felt wrong to be leaving so soon, but there was still the issue of keeping it. The reapers were everywhere. The Migrant Fleet had eluded their enemy so far but if they stopped for any length of time she feared what would happen. She'd tried to convince the other admirals that they should postpone this conflict. She pleaded with them to not engage the geth until after the reaper war had been resolved, but none of them believed it was real. They were just as blind as the Citadel Council when it came to the reapers.

They weren't so blind now, after seeing the dead thing on the surface of their homeworld. She couldn't stay to rebuild knowing untold legions of those creatures were out there and knowing she could do something to help stop them, no matter how miniscule a contribution she made.

She finally settled back in her seat, letting the noises of the shuttle lull her into a kind of calm. She distracted herself with the implications of the other thing she'd agreed to just before leaving the surface - one more thing that could change her peoples' lives forever, and for the better if it all worked out. She gazed down at the shiny new bracelet that was embedded into her enviro-suit around her left wrist. One of her new geth friends had given it to her, explaining its purpose in his modulated machine voice.

She had been shocked to learn that the geth had kept the data of her race's ancestors all along, and viewed it as a kind of doctrine. The quarian ancestors were still venerated by the geth as their creators, even after all the conflicts over the centuries.

Several other residents of the Migrant Fleet had been present and accepted the role of testers for the device that the geth promised would assist in restoring their immune systems. It involved a combination of gene therapy and simple periodic doses of a synthesized set of antibodies that replicated their ancestors, administered over a course of several months.

The only thing she needed to do was test it, which would involve something she was both terrified of and elated over. She'd taken her mask off impulsively that moment with Shepard, just so she could see the landscape of her homeworld without any barriers beyond her eyes. But she was still scared to take such a drastic step of shedding her suit entirely, even if it was for only short periods. If she knew one thing, there was only one person she wanted to share the experience with.

The steady hum of the shuttle's engine began to lull her into a half doze. She listened idly while Cortez was periodically engaged in banter with a few of the crew on the _Normandy._ At one point she perked up when she heard a suggestive exchange between him and an officer who he called "Major."

Her eyes widened a few seconds later when she heard him say sotto voce, "Kaidan... save it for later, alright? I'm flying here. Yeah. I love you too."

He ended the exchange with a chuckle. She kept pretending to be asleep, grateful for the privacy her enviro-suit allowed, but she smiled to herself at the idea that Kaidan had finally found someone special. The kind and gentle man most definitely deserved to find love after everything he had been through.

Back on the _Normandy_ she stepped out of the shuttle, trying to get her bearings. It was the same shuttle bay but there were disconcerting differences. Nothing was in exactly the right place. She had someplace to be now, though, so she kept moving hoping the general layout was the same. How much could have changed, anyway?

Just before the lift doors closed, an arm shoved in. Engineer Adams stepped aboard smiling at her ecstatically.

"Tali! It's so great to see you again. Are you here for tactical support or...?"

Adams had always been subtle. Poorly so, but still, she knew what he was really asking.

"It's good to see you, too, Greg. I'm here for whatever Shepard needs me for, but my place will most likely be with your team."

His wide smile lit up the lift. "We've got a great team now. You might recognize a couple actually. Come say hello?"

The lift opened on the engineering deck and there was no way Tali could say no when he gestured to let her exit before him. Not a lot had changed here, which was comforting. When they got to the main control center, the consoles were oddly unoccupied.

Adams paused by the consoles, remarking, "Huh, they're always right here... usually being annoying as hell, to be honest."

"Something wrong?" Tali asked.

"Probably not... Shepard's probably still in debriefing so we've had a small break. But those two are on the schedule. They shouldn't have left their posts."

He strode back to the exit, which slid open with a familiar whooshing sound she'd missed. They found two Alliance-clad personnel standing in a narrow corridor not far from the lift.

"What's so interesting you two had to abandon post?" Adams asked in a stern but good humored tone. "Celebration's not until Shepard is... Oh, uh..." When he reached the window overlooking the shuttle bay he trailed off.

Tali could hear the other two engineers talking, completely ignoring their superior officer.

"Oh, he's not gonna... no shit he did. Bugger me!"

Tali recognized Donnelly's brogue before she saw his face. Daniels' voice hit her ears next.

"Holy shit! Did you see that? I'm pretty sure we shouldn't be watching this, but the hell if I can look away."

Tali had always been a little envious of their banter and at the same time irritated that they never seemed to follow through on it. Whatever they were witnessing now was changing their dynamic a little bit. Donnelly was standing just behind Daniels and Tali watched as his hand slipped over her hip and squeezed. Daniels tensed but didn't react, instead she just cast a quick glance over her shoulder, a small smile playing across her face.

She stepped over to the window to see what the two engineers were looking at. Her eyes grew wide at the sight and a rush of blood surged to her head.

Shepard and a huge muscular marine were down below in the shuttle bay still, and were involved in a... well, 'passionate' was an understatement... a _steamy_ embrace between two stacks of cargo containers. They kissed like they'd been starved for each other. Their hands were everywhere, touching, tugging, groping.

Tali gasped when he spun the commander around and pressed himself against her, holding her captive and...

She turned away abruptly, her heart racing.

She'd just been on the shuttle with the two of them. She hadn't even caught a hint of … anything really. She thought everyone in the back of the shuttle had been asleep during the entire trip, it had been so quiet. But then she had been preoccupied.

What was his name? James? Judging from how the two of them had been _entangled_ just now, they must have a pretty strong connection.

"I need to go... debrief... the... ah... XO," Tali finally said. Adams came to his senses and bark a stern order to his engineers just as she was striding into the lift.

She didn't even have a clue who the current XO was. She'd start in the CIC. But maybe she'd make a pitstop in the main battery first. It was on the way after all, and Shepard clearly wasn't in a hurry. Garrus would be there. He was always there.

* * *

Garrus stood behind Joker's seat in the cockpit and glowered at him.

Joker's tone was infuriating. "She was on the shuttle. You know that. She's probably sitting down in the battery now wondering why the hell you're not there. So why are you lurking, dude? Just go. Calibrate something."

"I'm not lurking. I just want to make sure she's safe. Besides, I know you were hiding something just now. There was something happening in the shuttle bay before you switched to that screen. Show me."

"Shepard's pretty much got the keeping her safe part covered. And she's already on the damn ship!" Joker said, ignoring his other request.

"Shepard's ideas of 'safe' aren't always the same as mine."

"Are you serious? She just killed a _reaper_ to save Rannoch. You don't think she'd make sure Tali gets back to your horny ass in one piece?"

Garrus's mandibles twitched in frustration.

"I'm not horny," he grumbled as he stalked away.

"Coulda fooled me," he heard Joker quip under his breath.

Back in the main battery he adjusted his haphazard preparations. He'd snagged a few soft pillows from the lounge and found several half-spent hazard sticks which now glowed in strategic locations throughout the room. A chilled bottle of dextro wine he'd been saving specifically for a purpose such as this waited on his small workbench.

Would she even come? She'd been on the ship for half an hour already. Maybe she was stuck in a debriefing of some sort. He knew Shepard didn't like letting the _Normandy_ linger for too long in one spot, but after such a victory she'd want to celebrate. He hoped that meant they'd have at least a few hours to pause and catch their breath.

He tapped his omni-tool once to switch off the lights just to admire the overall effect in the room. The main gun itself still glowed, but his normally shadowed alcove was softly illuminated with the lights of the hazard sticks, their contained inner glow nearly depleted. Perfect mood lighting for the occasion. Even the bottle of wine and the two glasses was attractively backlit, a warm purple glow being cast through the bottle onto the workbench in front of it. He idly wished Kasumi were around to help him secure more soft things. Things that would make his current home more of a proper place to bring a woman.

The door to the battery slid open behind him and he heard a small exclamation of surprise.

"Tali. You're here," he said, turning around and failing to keep his own surprise from his voice.

"Are you... busy?" she asked, glancing around at the area with uncertainty. Her voice took on an odd tone he'd never heard before. She hesitated in the doorway looking like she wanted to turn and run.

He cursed silently to himself and wasted no time. He strode over to her and pulled her into a gentle embrace.

"Of course not. I'm never too busy for you."

She relaxed and pulled back to look at him. He could see the familiar beautiful half-glow of a smile behind the smoky glass of her faceplate. What he wouldn't give to see her face just one time.

"Garrus, it's been so long. So many things have happened. Of course you know this. I've been thinking about this day for so long. Seeing you again and... being able to touch you, to have you hold me."

Then her arms were back around him, clutching him tightly. He held her and wished fervently that they would never be parted again, even though he knew better under the circumstances.

His talons drifted over her shoulder. Her enviro-suit had a slightly coarse but not unpleasant texture. Quarians were renowned for their fine textiles, for good reason. He knew from talking to Tali that there were several layers to her suit. Microscopically fine layers of fabric with elaborate layers of nanotech in between each one. She'd also told him that the layer closest to her skin was a complicated microcomputer monitoring her vitals and regulating the rest of the suit's functions, but that it was also made of the finest materials and felt amazing against her skin.

"Garrus. What is all this?" she asked, staring around at the moodily lit room.

"Oh... nothing. Just waiting for a special friend."

"Oh?" she asked, the suggestive lilt returning to her voice. "That friend wouldn't be me, would it?"

"Well... now that you mention it..."

He could see her smile again, even brighter than before, like she was made of light underneath all that engineered exterior padding. Padding he had imagined tearing away from her body piece by piece on so many occasions within the last few months.

"Sit," he said, urging her to the single stool that rested by his workbench in his own little corner of the _Normandy_.

He poured two glasses of wine, popped a straw in one and handed it to her.

"I thought we'd have a toast when you got here," he said.

He held his glass up. "To reuniting with old friends. To Shepard. And to Legion."

Tali hesitated.

She set her glass down, then brought her hands up to the sides of her faceplate, tucked her thumbs and forefingers into a couple small gaps he'd never noticed before. A second later there was a pneumatic *pop* and her faceplate separated from her suit.

"Tali?" he asked in alarm. "Are you sure about this?"

"Yes," she said.

Her lilting voice resonated in his ears as she explained the experimental treatment she was testing. It took him a few seconds to realize the unusual change in the sound of her voice was because he was hearing her through the air between them and not through the small speaker in the front of her faceplate. She sounded beautiful.

She looked even more beautiful and he found himself mesmerized by her features. Her eyes were wide and hypnotic, her irises bordered with a circle of glowing blue light, the source of which he couldn't fathom.

A look of dismay crossed her face.

"Garrus? Is something wrong? Why are you looking at me like that?"

She brought a gloved hand up to her cheek.

After a second he regained his senses. He set his glass down and stepped closer to her, drawn in by her uncertain expression and needing to reassure her.

"Tali... nothing could be more right. Do you have any idea how beautiful you are?"

Her long eyelashes fluttered shyly and she glanced away. She began twisting her hands together and staring at them while she spoke.

"I wasn't sure at first, whether I could do it. The gene therapy requires us to be... exposed... for short periods each day. That's what this is for," she said, raising up her hand to show him the shiny bracelet around one of her wrists. "To administer the therapy and monitor our time outside the suit. Eventually we won't ever need our suits, but I don't know if I'll ever really be able to go without it. It's so much a part of me."

"As much as my armor is a part of me," he said. "I'd never go into battle without it, but lately it seems odd not to have it on, even when I get a break from my duties."

She nodded and said, "You do look strange without it, but I like it."

She took a deep, shaky breath before meeting his eyes again with a look of determination.

"But I wanted to be with you the first time I... shed my suit completely. The first time I drank wine straight from a glass, without using an induction port."

She smiled at him as she took the straw out of her glass and dropped it on his desk. She raised her glass.

"To Legion, to Shepard... And to us."

After they toasted and each took a swallow of the burgundy liquid, Garrus said, "I am honored to be the one you chose to share this moment with."

She took another swallow of her drink, then set it down and stood up. He watched in fascination as she pushed back her hood and began unfastening the clasps at the neck of the flexible helmet her faceplate had been attached to.

Tendrils of thick, dark locks covered her head, extending from behind a high sloped forehead that ended in a crest not unlike a turian's facial crest, only smaller and more delicately made. The thick ropes of hair tumbled down around her shoulders, springing against her breasts and shimmering darkly in the dim glow of the cannon behind her. Her translucent skin was flushed now, from the drink, he thought, or maybe from the implications of what she was preparing to do.

She held his gaze and a small smile tugged at her lips when she leaned closer to him and said in a near whisper, "It could only have been you."

Her lips brushed against his chin, her hand slipping up his chest to cup the side of his face. He could still see a hint of fear in her eyes but something else was overpowering it. A deep trill vibrated in his chest in response to her touch, and his hands drifted to her hips of their own accord.

He bent his head and inhaled, her scent was darkly spicy and sweet at the same time, like some exotic flower.

"I missed you," he whispered huskily against her ear and thought he felt her shiver slightly, even though the room was always warm.

"Will you do the honors?" she asked, gripping his hand and pulling it up to her shoulder. He realized she was directing him to the main closure of her suit.

He hesitated for only a second, knowing in his heart that the moment would never feel as perfect. With hands more steady and sure than they'd ever been even on a mission, poised with his rifle, he slowly and methodically began unfastening the many clasps on her enviro-suit. The golden collar went first and she tilted her head back with a small sigh when he ghosted one talon over the smooth pale skin beneath. He kept working his way down and with each new bit of her skin revealed he became bolder, caressing once, dipping his head and tasting her another time.

After several sublime minutes every beautiful inch of her was on display for his eyes only and he knelt before her in worship.

Her chest was heaving as he gazed up at her. He trailed his hand up the smooth skin of her side and cupped one breast, gently flicking his tongue out to swirl around the dark tip. A soft moan escaped from her chest and he felt her hand against his cheek.

"It's too much," she gasped. "Need to... slow down."

Her legs began to buckle and he stood swiftly and caught her, guiding her over to the bed to sit. It was all he could do to restrain himself from touching her more.

"Take your time," he said, offering her glass to her. She nodded and took a drink, closing her eyes while she swallowed. She took a deep breath and smiled up at him.

"You are so tender. I didn't want you to stop, but I felt like I would explode if you didn't."

His mandibles twitched in amusement.

"What?" she asked.

"That's the general idea," he said.

She gave him a playful nudge with one hand and said, "Just because I've never done it doesn't mean I don't know how it's supposed to work. But now I'm feeling underdressed - something I never thought I would say in my entire life."

"For the record, touching you has the same effect on me," he said, standing to begin removing his own clothing.

"Wait," she said softly after he'd pulled off his shirt and was preparing to unfasten his belt. "Let me."

For the first time he had a newfound appreciation for James' 'thruster' issues. He was aroused to the point of discomfort already and had thus far managed to keep his reaction to her contained. His pelvis was beginning to ache with the pressure of his engorged sex still being kept at bay, trapped behind the flexible protective plates. With her lightest of caresses against his taut belly he thought he would go mad.

The deep trill in his chest grew louder as she worked at his belt then unfastened his pants. Her hand drifted over his hip as he stepped out of his pants, then very tentatively over the now bulging and desperate heat at the front of his groin.

"You're so soft and warm. Does this hurt?" she asked in response to the low groan he emitted.

"No, but if you keep doing that I'm going to go crazy."

She smiled slightly and glanced up at him.

"But you got to see all of me. Now I want to see all of you." She leaned her head close to his hips and his eyes grew wide when her soft tongue flicked out to taste the ever weakening seal holding him back. "Show me," she whispered, her lips grazing against his skin in a tortuously exquisite sensation.

She sat back, waiting expectantly. He finally relaxed and let the thick length of his sex emerge from behind the protective covering, tentative at first, but growing bolder at her response.

When he was fully exposed she gazed in wonder, slipping her fingertips along his length, teasing at the soft ridges that graced the underside, then over the thick, blunt tip.

"Tali..." Garrus groaned. "I love you, but I have my limits."

She pulled away but not before bending close again and planting a soft kiss on his swollen tip that very nearly made him come apart at the seams.

"Do you mean that?" she asked softly. She had a look of eager joy that surprised him. He knelt down before her, ignoring the stiff appendage between his thighs for the moment, and met her eyes.

"More than anything. Being here with you, like this, is the best thing that's ever happened to me."

She slipped off the bed and wrapped herself around him, whispering, "I love you, too. Oh how long I hoped you would say that."

She kissed him, her soft lips teasing at the sensitive skin of his neck, her fingertips caressing the juncture between the plates of his back and slipping down to the more sensitive skin of his sides. Her thighs gripped him and he held her close, shifting his weight onto his knees, the sturdy plates covering his lower legs bearing both their weights with ease. His hard length was trapped between them and he thought he would go crazy if he didn't find release soon.

"Tali, I need you. I don't think I can hold back much longer."

"Then don't," she whispered.

He gripped her hips hard with both hands and urged them to rise. She was as light as a bird to him and felt as delicate as a flower. He tilted his own hips until he could feel her poised above his sex, the slippery heat of her tantalizing him, making him quiver with the need to become one with her, but he knew he needed to be gentle.

She panted out short gasps, her forehead resting against his and both her arms around his neck. Her soft breasts pressed against his chest, the combination of sensations, sounds, and smells combining in a swirling bubble around them giving the entire experience a sense of surreality. His beautiful Tali, the woman he loved, was naked in his arms, her eager flesh wrapped around him in all but the best way he could imagine, but he was afraid of hurting her.

"I'm ready," she said, sensing his hesitance.

"I'm going to go slow. It will be better. Just trust me, and tell me if you want me to stop."

Slow sex was something he was not accustomed to. Sex with turian women was fast and decisive; more of a contest of wills than of lovemaking, at least in his experience. Tali was nothing like turian women. She deserved a man who could take his time.

He lowered her slight frame down slowly, holding her gaze and watching the range of expressions play over her features. First surprise, then consternation. She bit her lip and closed her eyes when his throbbing tip was enveloped within her softness.

"Don't stop," she gasped when he went just a little deeper.

He groaned with the effort of holding back, lowering her another fraction.

"I couldn't stop right now if our lives depended on it," he said, his voice low and urgent even in his own ears.

Her thighs tightened around him, causing him to slip back out of her, the friction making them both hiss slightly from the pleasure.

"Spirits forgive me," he whispered, releasing her hips and thrusting upward with one quick, violent movement, burying himself completely within her.

She threw her head back and cried out, but it didn't sound like a cry of pain to him. Her heaving breasts brushed against his chest, inciting his desire even further.

"Are you alright?" he asked, his voice coarse and shaky.

"I am perfect," she murmured and began moving her hips in slow, small strokes.

Taking the cue he began meeting her with slow thrusts of his own, letting her set the pace. She began moving more enthusiastically after only a few seconds, bracing her feet on the floor behind him and gripping his shoulders for leverage.

Her eyes flashed brightly and a steady flush rose up her chest, her translucent skin almost glowing from within with the heat of her desire. She moved with increasing urgency, hips and thighs working steadily. He responded eagerly when her lips found his mouth and her tongue slipped out teasing at his mandibles. Their tongues tangled briefly before he lowered his head to pay homage once again to her breasts, inciting a cry from her that echoed through the battery.

He hung onto sanity by a fine thread when he felt her begin to quiver and spasm around him. Her breathing was quick and fast, small whimpers escaping as he felt her climax begin and build to a crescendo, her muscles clenching tightly around him, her breath gusting against his neck.

He continued thrusting, each movement pulling the thread of sanity tighter until in a surge of overwhelming sensation and emotion it snapped. He came hard, his orgasm exploding through him, the feeling more powerful and unimaginably exquisite than anything he'd ever felt before, even at the hands of women he knew to be experienced.

The world around them ceased to exist. Nothing mattered but her warmth and softness pressed against him, wrapped around him. Her breathing grew shallow and she murmured satisfied but incoherent sounds in his ear. He trailed a taloned finger down her spine and enjoyed the soft laugh and the way every inch of her seemed to respond to his touch, especially the most intimate part of her that was still wrapped tightly around him.

He stayed like that with her, loathe to separate. Finally with a heavy sigh he stood and laid her down on the bed. She peered up at him, her expression sated and happy. He lay down beside her, snuggling close and nuzzling at her neck. He'd never get tired of her scent.

"How long until you have to put the suit back on?" he asked, hating himself for asking the moment the look of chagrin crossed her face.

She glanced at the silver bracelet that was still wrapped around her slender wrist, tapped a couple times until a small holographic timer was displayed.

"Not long enough," she said with a sigh, and rolled toward him, burying her face against his chest.

"Oh, Garrus. I can't believe how amazing this feels. I never want to put that thing back on now. I want to stay like this with you forever."

He chuckled. "It's tempting, but if the reapers could be beat by the power of unbridled passion we'd have won long ago with all the lovemaking that happens on this ship."

"Oh?" she asked, giving him a curious look. "I've missed all the good stories, haven't I? You'll have to fill me in. Especially about Commander Shepard and that human soldier she couldn't keep her hands off of in the shuttle bay earlier. It looked serious... as serious as what we were just doing, actually."

Garrus blinked at her for a second, thinking back to his last conversation with Joker. The pilot had been evasive and had clearly been hiding something about the shuttle bay. Now he thought he understood why.

"There is a lot to tell, plus some new faces you'll want to meet. Right now, I'd rather make the most of the time you have out of that suit, if you don't mind."

"No time to waste," she said with an impish grin.

* * *

_A/N: I finally decided to do a few more of these Tendrils. This one was my first choice mostly due to the results of a poll I put up on dA... which strangely enough at the last minute ended up with a solid tie between the three choices: Garrus/Tali, EDI/Joker, or Daniels/Donnelly. I planned to do all three, but the poll was just to determine which would go first. SO screw the irritating tied poll. These two are first. Suck it up. However, if you have an opinion on who should go next of the remaining two options, feel free to send me a PM or say so in your review and I will take your comment into consideration!_

_Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it and keep an eye out in the coming weeks for the next two interludes (just be warned I make no promises on timing since I have another story I really ought to focus on more)._


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